Simon Merrells(I)
- Actor
Essex boy Simon is the elder of the two acting Merrells brothers, born
in 1965, three years before his sibling Jason. Though there was no acting
background in the family both boys were keen to tread the boards at an
early age, attending Saturday morning drama classes, then a Sylvia
Young school, and, in Simon's case, drama college, though on graduation
he spent some time travelling abroad, and, on return, working as a
mini-cab driver to earn the money to go back to Mexico to join a
girlfriend who was in the circus there. He eventually went back to
acting however, and turned professional in 1994. He has been
particularly prolific on stage with such prestigious organizations as
the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, for whom he
played Benedick to Sally Anne Triplett's Beatrice in 'Much About
Nothing' and acting with Jason for the first time in fourteen years as
real-life brothers in 'The Comedy of Errors', both in 2007. On
television he became well-known in the British soap opera 'Family
Affairs'.
